36.1627 N, 86.7816 W / Nashville, Tennessee.

We are born places, we live places and we die places… for a lot of people in this world, those three places are no different. Some play life safe, never leave their home town and don’t really live.

Not Me.

From being real young, I’ve always known that I would never stay where I was born. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with where I grew up and I am proud of where I come from… I’m small town, home-grown and one of the last generations that got to live a young life and actually be a kid, without the internet, or social media and I wouldn’t change a damn thing! It taught me a lot of things; mainly how to be a good human, explore, adventure and make friends over a game of bulldog with all the other kids in the neighbourhood. Man, life was good.

I have an inquisitive mind and the need to constantly explore and discover new things. I got my first travel itch when I was about 18 and it has never left me since. I ended up moving to Chicago at 23, which was totally incredible and that city will always feel like a second home to me! It was a spur of the moment job application and a month later I was on a plane to New York City to start a new life. I was completely alone, but had never felt more alive! I was going in the right direction. Never for a second did I question what was going to happen when I made it as far as the Windy City, it was an adventure and I was ready for fate to take the wheel on that drive. I was open and ready for whatever was coming my way.

Unfortunately, Chicago was short lived and I had to come home (we can talk about that another time)….

It would be a few years before I could get back, but I knew from the second I landed back home I would make it my mission. Something was drawing me to the Land of the Free!

I remember being like 8 or 9 and my dad sitting me in his shitty little Nissan Sunny… we weren’t going anywhere, it was just parked in his garage. Like most of the cars he ever had, it needed some serious work and it conked out- a lot!

Anyway, there we sat; middle of winter, just the two of us, garage door shut and that many heaters going it felt like the Sahara Desert! We put a pair of sunglasses on each, they were so big on my face and we looked ridiculous but we didn’t care, we imagined we were cruising in the sunshine. We reclined the seats and he put in a cassette tape… (back in the 90’s kids- for those of you that have never seen one)

Pause.

Coming out of the speakers; guitar chugging like a train, a deep voice singing about prison, with an accent so different, I had never heard anything like it. I LOVED it! I couldn’t get enough. My old pop had introduced me to Johnny Cash and it would spark a love of Country and Rock ’n’ Roll (real music) that would last a lifetime.

Fast forward, I’m now 28… a lot followed that day in the Nissan, but that’s not a conversation for today.

I’m about to board a flight, 5 glorious weeks in the place I’ve been dying to get back to… YEP!

But this time I wasn’t going to Chicago, oh no… there was only one place that I was headed… Nashville, Tennessee.

We landed, the plane door opened, I saw the sun shining and felt an incredible heat literally hit me! My feet touched Tennessee soil and I felt a calm pass over me that had been missing for a long time. (You’ll find out a lot about me moving forward, but just know for now that somewhere between 24 and 28 I lost myself and hit some very dark times.)

It feels like home.

My friend and I spent the first 2 weeks on one hell of a Music (whiskey) binge! CMA Fest, Broadway, Iron Maiden at the Bridgestone, Whiskey Jam- a weekly drunken tradition that resulted in tattoos…Sorry Mum! and not forgetting The Grand Ole Opry! We even took a quick trip to Biloxi, Mississippi for Kip Moore- so freaking worth it! Insane show and probably the best live performance you will ever see! If he’s touring near you… go and see him! You’ll regret it if you don’t!

Anyway, after that we calmed it (just a little bit) and settled into day to day life. Workouts in the Bicentennial Park, walks around the sweetest parts of town- Germantown is my favourite, trying local food joints all over the city and we even went for a hungover hike out at Percy Priest Lake followed by a Cracker Barrel brunch.

My heart is happy and finally full, it’s strange and I can’t even begin to explain the peace I felt to you.

Nashville is so much more than the bubble that surrounds downtown… I can see how it is easy to get swallowed whole by the lights, the industry and the power players that fuel the machine that is Music City, but I looked for something more. I didn’t know what I was looking for to be perfectly honest with you, but I knew it wasn’t the bubble. I will tell you what I found though…

Myself. Direction. Faith. Hope.

If I tried to describe every moment, experience, feeling and realisation I had on this trip, we would be here forever… and no one really wants to listen to me waffle on that long.

I left Tennessee with a very heavy heart, but I knew what I had to do. It set my wheel turning and I had to jump in and hold on with both hands.

I quit my job, moved out of my little beach house that I was crazy in love with, enrolled at University, packed up my entire life and moved to a new city.

I don’t know what is going to happen to me from here and I’m open to all the possibilities.

Things I do know- I’m 28. I’m a student. Country Music changed my life. Nashville stole my heart. I’m finally starting to feel like the person I always knew I should be.